ipl-logo

Summary Of Revisiting Agathocles By Victoria Kahn

1115 Words5 Pages

“Revisiting Agathocles” by Victoria Kahn reevaluates Machiavelli’s use of Agathocles in The Prince, attempting to read between the lines in order to differentiate between Machiavellian virtu and true glory. Despite the extensiveness of the argument, the entire article circulates around a single statement on page 35 of The Prince, “Yet one cannot call it virtue to kill one’s citizens, betray one’s friends, to be without faith, without mercy, without religion; these modes can enable one to acquire empire, but not glory.” Kahn uses this brief mention of glory, and Agathocles’ apparent lack thereof, to justify her thesis that Machiavelli distinctly and purposefully separated the meanings of virtu and virtue, virtu and success, and success and glory …show more content…

Kahn states that a prince “need not even possess virtue in the sense of such dedication to the common good,” but that he rather “possess the virtue that consists of ‘brain,’ or ‘greatness of mind,’ and manliness combined . . . and possessed by the criminals Agathocles and Severus” (Kahn). The prince need not obtain Machiavellian virtu to hold and rule over his kingdom, in fact, Agathocles experienced much success throughout his life having never obtained virtu. Machiavelli claims that Agathocles lived for a long time, secured in his kingdom defending himself from external enemies without the citizens conspiring against him. Kahn concisely argues that “Agathocles retained his position for his entire life because he curbed his violent deeds and catered to the interest of is subjects.” While virtu might be the easiest way to hold a principality, it is not the only recipe for success. Machiavelli uses this point of virtu, not to encourage the Medici to pursue alternative methods of power like Agathocles, but to demonstrate the convenience of

Show More
Related
1056 Words | 5 Pages

Then for Machiavelli he talks about how a prince should show no fear instead for him to show that he is the one with power. That a prince's people should fear him. Both authors go on to talk on how their people react based on the prince and princesse act. The authors then go on to explain how they should view and run their people. Both authors also reflect the fact that the way their people are going to act towards them is mainly based off of how they treat them.

Read More
676 Words | 3 Pages

In Niccolo Machiavelli's book, The Prince (1513), he evaluates on how a prince can be a successful leader. Machiavelli’s purpose of this guidebook was to construct his argument to the rising ruler Giuliano de Medici for when he comes to power in Florence. He adopts a casual but authoritative tone in order to convince the prince that Machiavelli’s evaluation on how to be the best prince, is the right thing for the prince to do without coming off as he knows more than the prince or is trying to intimidate him.. Machiavelli’s reference to previous rulers and whether their tactics failed or succeeded helps to benefit his credibility along with his allusion to historic text. He appeals to our logic by simply stating a prince can only do what is within his power to control, and his use of an analogy furthers his argument.

Read More
1728 Words | 7 Pages

Life is full of people who were meant to lead, and others who were meant to follow. This aspect of life has dissipated over recent years, but it was one of the most important aspects of life during the time of feudalism. Kings and queens were the most important aspect of a nation, their personal ability lent itself directly to the stability and prosperity of the kingdom. There are thousands of examples of terrible monarchs in history, but less examples of ‘good’ monarchs exist. Frederick the Great of Prussia, Victoria of The United Kingdom, Joseph II, and Louis XIV are examples of monarchs that have used their extreme amounts of influence to exert their force on the world in order to win favor for their realm.

Read More
762 Words | 4 Pages

Machiavelli argues the perfect prince will be both feared and loved by his people, and if unable to be both he will make himself feared and not hated. Machiavelli believes it is much safer to be feared than to be loved because people are less likely to offend and stand up against strong characters, also people are less concerned in offending a prince who has made himself loved. Accordingly, Machiavelli believes generosity is harmful to your reputation and the choice between being generous or stingy, merciful or cruel, honest or deceitful, should only be important if it aids the prince in political power. All in all, Machiavelli believes the ruler must be a great deceiver and do what is essential to uphold power over the

Read More
312 Words | 2 Pages

Referring to the works of Niccolo Machiavelli and Lao-Tzu in succession highlight how truly at opposition the messages are. In spite of the fact that both works aim to create a model of a good leadership , «Tao-te Ching» by Lao-Tzu discusses peace, straightforwardness, and giving the universe a chance to work its will, while «The Qualities of the Prince» by Machiavelli emphasizes the significance of war, and the common depravity of men. There are no specific reasons that these two methods of reasoning ought to be in agreement, one written in the sixth century, and the other the sixteenth, however they are comparable in that they are very honored among society and the quotes taken from the content are frequently cited and considered insightful,

Read More
650 Words | 3 Pages

In The Prince by one of the many famous Florentians, Niccolò Machiavelli, the authors work opens up a metaphorical can of worms that has many arguing that the means by which a final result is come upon is justified, whilst other would argue that the end result does in no way justify the means by which the result is brouhgt about. I will however argue here that the former is what I consider personally correct as can be clearly witnessed nearly all throughout Mr. Machiavelli's work. One must put himself, no matter how hard it may be to imagine, in the boots of a prince, the actions of a prince are not just for the princes own personal pleasure, the princes actions affects nearly all his subjects. Mr. Machiavelli writes in Chapter six; "A wise man ought always to follow the paths beaten by great men, and to imitate those who have been supreme, so that if his ability does not equal theirs, at least it will savour of it." At a first glance this quote may seem insignificant and

Read More
981 Words | 4 Pages

The Prince, written by Machiavelli, is a candid outline of how he believes leaders gain and keep power. Machiavelli uses examples of past leaders to determine traits that are necessary to rule successfully. Leaders such as the King of Naples and the Duke of Milan lacked military power, made their subjects hate them, or did not know how to protect themselves from the elite, causing them to lose power. He says that these rulers should blame laziness, not luck, for their failures. By looking at these historical successes and failures, Machiavelli is able to develop his own thoughts on how politics and leaders should be in the future.

Read More
429 Words | 2 Pages

He believes anyone can rule a polis if they have virtu. Once a ruler, a simple rule to follow to maintain power and not to be hated by the people, is to “not take away a man’s possession or woman”, Machiavelli believes the people will not feel threaten by following this rule, thus maintaining a stable polis. He expresses how “human nature never changes”, and that people are self-interested and they can turn against you once you are not profiting them. A good ruler must have the strength to do whatever it takes to obtain and maintain power, which essentially means that even if they have to hurt some of the people for the benefit of the popular mass, then they shall do so for the greater cause. Both Plato and Machiavelli believe that there must be a government in order for human kind to survive.

Read More
1492 Words | 6 Pages

The Prince and the Discourses, by Machiavelli as a gift to the prince. Because it was the best thing that Niccolo Machiavelli could give to him. He was trying to teach the prince ways to stay in power. Machiavelli even stated it himself “I can consider of this subject, discussing what a principality is, the variety of such states, how they are won, how they are held, and how they are lost” (Machiavelli xxiv). The main focus of his work was with monarchies because he did not care for republics.

Read More
570 Words | 3 Pages

Time changes many things, from the progression of the horse and buggy to the invention of the automobile. If there’s one thing in this world that can be guaranteed is that time changes all things, and one area that we can see this most clearly is in the progression of American education. From a time when only the wealthy were able to afford the privilege of education, we have progressed into a society that demands education for all youth. Many historical figures have contributed to the changes that have led to the progression in education. Each of these figures have their own ideas and goals to lend to the educational society of their day.

Read More
954 Words | 4 Pages

One aspect of Machiavelli’s theory which significantly contributes to his reputation as the “philosopher of evil,” is his advice to the prince on keeping their word to the public. In chapter eighteen, Machiavelli states, “a wise ruler cannot, and should not, keep his word when doing so is to his disadvantage, and when the reasons that led him to promise to do so no longer apply” (pg. 37). To simplify, Machiavelli says princes are obligated to lie in certain circumstances. He also states that while it is unnecessary for the prince to have positive qualities, such as honesty, trustworthiness, sympathy, compassion, or be religious, it is essential for the prince to be viewed so by the public (pg. 37). While many people argue that Machiavelli’s legitimization of lying and deception in politics is immoral, I argue the opposite.

Read More
1284 Words | 6 Pages

In Machiavelli’s book, The Prince, he maintains a harsh perspective on reality. His advice on how to maintain power leaves no room for compassion or generousity. While some may believe that these are qualities of a good person, Machiavelli believes these qualities lead to the downfall of rulers. He acknowledges that, in reality, it is impossible for someone to have qualities of a good person and simultaneously a good ruler. Machiavelli’s realistic outlook causes him to emphasize that it is better to maintain power through fear, rather than compassion.

Read More
1652 Words | 7 Pages

According to him, rulers should know their respective limits when it comes to the force and violence they inflict. Machiavelli believes that maximizing betrayal, deception and other cruel acts aren’t considered talents. Although these methods are effective in gaining empire, these don’t help in getting glory. Therefore, using violence and cruelty may be necessary but should have limits. The prince must know up to what extent his violence should be inflicted upon and he must do it all at once to avoid the hatred and resentment from his

Read More
1034 Words | 5 Pages

Both of these highly influential authors had different opinions on ruling that would shape how people would rule during their time and for rulers to come. One of Machiavelli’s major points in The Prince was that it was better to be feared than to be loved. He said this was because while both ways can be useful tools to help one rule, men are less likely to turn a ruler if they were afraid of punishment. Machiavelli had little faith in the common man and had this to say about them, “They are ungrateful, fickle, deceptive and deceiving, avoiders of dangers, eager to gain”(pg.353).

Read More
1526 Words | 7 Pages

I. Machiavelli In his famous work the Prince Niccolo Machiavelli exposes what it takes to be a good prince and how only this good price and keep control over his state. There are many different qualities that make a man a good ruler but there are some that are more essential than others. In this work Machiavelli stresses the importance of being a warrior prince, a wise prince, and knowing how to navigate the duality of virtù and vices. Without these attributes there was no way that a prince could hold together their state and their people.

Read More

More about Summary Of Revisiting Agathocles By Victoria Kahn

Related Topics

Open Document